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Global Brands Improve Facebook ROI In Emerging Markets

Global Marketing News – 30th June 2015

Global brands improve Facebook ROI in emerging markets

Facebook has launched a program called Creative Accelerator, which shows different ads depending on a user’s internet speed, location and gender.

With over a billion people now using Facebook, and many of them using low-quality mobile phones to access the site, it has become increasingly necessary for the social network to develop a more nuanced advertising targeting approach.

Under Creative Accelerator, an advert may show a static image if the user is on a slow connection, but load a video if they are on a faster connection, for example.

The social network claims that Creative Accelerator has already produced promising results, having tested the program in Indonesia, Kenya and Turkey with advertising campaigns for Nestle, Coca Cola, Lifebuoy and Durex.

Following a Creative Accelerator advertising campaign, Lifebuoy, saw 9.4% of its target audience in Indonesia associating its brand with its tagline.

Naver launches online payment service Naver Pay

The Korean internet technology company Naver has launched its own online payment service, Naver Pay.

Naver Pay will allow users to pay for items using just their Naver ID, once they have registered their bank account or credit card details with the company.

Around 53,000 online stores now offer the Naver Pay option, and 14 banks and credit card companies have partnered up with Naver over the scheme, with the technology company saying it hopes to partner up with more banks and credit card companies in the future.

Naver is just the latest big name to enter to the online payments sector in South Korea. Its rival Daum Kakao has already launched its own online payment services, BankWalletKakao and KakaoPay, with the tech giant Samsung having announced that it also intends to launch its own online payment service Samsung Pay this September.

South Korea is one of the most connected countries in the world, with smartphone penetration at over 100% in the country.

Fitbit to enter India in July

The fitness wearables company Fitbit is to enter India this July.

Fitbit has announced that it will start selling 4 types of Fitbit wristbands from 1st July on Amazon India.

Fitbit is the world’s leading fitness wearables company, dominating 85% of the global market and with a value of 8 billion US dollars.

Fitbit is expected to face stiff competition in the Indian market, however, with local players offering fitness wearables at lower prices.

Micromax released its YuFit wearable last month, with GetActive and 42gears also having recently launched their own products. The Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has also launched its Mi Band wearable in India, where it has seen significant success.

App usage falling in China

App usage is falling among Chinese smartphone users, according to research by Localytics.

In 2014, 27% of Chinese smartphone users opened an app at least 11 times in the first 6 months after it was first downloaded. By March of this year, however, this proportion had fallen to just 18%.

Furthermore, the proportion of users opening an app just once, in the first 6 months after it was downloaded, has risen from 26% last year to 37% this year.

The research did uncover a way to increase app usage, however. It discovered that apps that used push notifications were used more frequently than those without push notifications enabled.

Apps with push notifications were opened 11 times or more by 35% of smartphone users, compared to just 15% when looking at apps without push notifications.

iOS9 to contain in-app search capabilities

And finally, Apple’s new operating system iOS9 will contain in-app search capabilities.

The move has prompted some commentators to speculate whether this could mark the beginning of Apple’s entry into the search market, and even whether Apple could steal the search crown from Google.

Certain factors are in Apple’s favour, such as the fact that Apple is the only company apart from Google to have a major international app store. Furthermore, Apple is already a global company with a large userbase, which puts it in a better position than a new company that would have to build a search engine from scratch.

Elin Box

Marketing Assistant at Webcertain

Elin is a Marketing Assistant at Webcertain. She edits and writes content for Webcertain and provides support on a wide range of the Group's marketing activities. She is part of the Webcertain TV team and writes the scripts for The Platform Programme, The SEO Show, The Advertising Arena, The Mobile Magazine, The Conference Calendar, Jargon Buster, The Content Marketing Show and The Translation Show.